Editor’s Note: The reviewer has advised us that there is
also a 46-page referees-only supplement to this item, containing
additional data. This supplement is available from http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/images/3/30/For_Your_Eyes_Only.pdf.

Occasionally Traveller books come along
that are astonishing for their conception, their content or just their
sheer size. The Encyclopaedia Dagudashaag
manages to score on all three of those fronts in what is an outstanding
piece of work. I’m sure many of us would like to see more of this kind
of thing. Imagine every Imperial sector done in this kind of detail?‌!

This hefty 382 page PDF (A4 sized) is the masterwork of Jae Campbell.
It was first proposed as a project back in the early 1990s in
Signal-GK, no.7 and it’s perhaps not
surprising that it’s taken a quarter of a century to come to fruition
with Jae working on it for the last couple of years.

This is the logical extension of books such as
Supplement 10: The Solomani Rim (GDW),
Behind the Claw (Steve Jackson Games) or
The Spinward Marches (Mongoose Publishing) but where every world,
race, or significant individual gets a decent description. In 1,077
entries (excluding ‘see’ references) varying from just a line or two to
a couple of pages, an entire sector is detailed and described for hours
of role playing adventure or even just immersive reading.

I’m sure I’m not alone in having dreamed of lovingly detailing a
sector in this fashion. But I doubt I’m alone in finding that, once the
UWPs were generated the project would get bogged down in just the sheer
enormity of an entire sector, 16 subsectors, hundreds of worlds. The
imagination begins to flag; the scale of the Imperium begins to become a
reality.

This is the genius of this encyclopaedia; it effectively crowdsourced
a solution in the days well before that became a thing. Between 1993 and
1997 Messrs Campbell and Piper produced 13 issues of the UK-based
fanzine Signal-GK, which covered
Traveller,
MegaTraveller, and Traveller: The New Era
and (Marc Miller’s Traveller just getting
a mention at the end) with articles, adventures and most particularly
the issue by issue revealing of Dagudashaag sector in supplementary
booklets. Although the Spinward Marches and sectors such as Theta
Borealis were given time and space, Dagudashaag was
Signal-GK’s home, as it were, with data
for classic Traveller and the rebellion
era. Readers of Signal-GK including many
members of BITS (British Isles Traveller Support) contributed to both
the articles and the sub-sector development and it is (mostly) the
latter that forms the greater part of The
Encyclopaedia Dagudashaag. [I should perhaps at this point
declare a tiny interest and mention that although I came to it rather
late in the day, just in time for one of the very last subsectors (Iraadu),
I contributed some seven minor pieces to the periodical that have all
made it into the encyclopaedia. This is, I believe, my earliest
published Traveller work and I should
credit the car-share team of Ann Hindson and Barbara Lucas for their
contributions and all the fun we had on the motorway across several
years.]

This is not, however, merely a re-presentation of the fanzine in
alphabetical order. In fact, all 13 issues have recently become freely
available on the internet and those interested are highly recommended to
take a look. Not everything that graced those pages have made it into
the encyclopaedia. Adventures in particular and some of the smaller
filler material aren’t included; technology articles from ship designs
to weapons haven’t been included either – although there are some short
items where they were subsector library data rather ’zine articles.
Other rules based articles have not made the transition for obvious
reasons.

So what is in the Encyclopaedia? Well
every single world in Dagudashaag for a start. All 559 planets. Where
the world was the subject of an extended profile in
Signal-GK, these have been considerably
reduced in size and scope; gone, also, is all the
World Builders’ Handbook-style data. However, all the other
worlds, the vast majority, that only got a brief paragraph of treatment
in the subsector booklets that were published with the periodical have
been somewhat extended. Although the loss of useful data is a slight
pity, it would have been a mammoth task to produce such data for every
planet and it would have made for a mammoth book. What has been added is
Traveller5-style extended UWPs
for every world. This means that the volume can essentially be used with
every rule set of Traveller and many of
its Third Imperium settings – although not perhaps, Milieu 0 and TNE.

Instead of the wide variety of entry styles that might be expected
from its origins, the encyclopaedia now has a much more balanced
coverage which is all to the good. Nothing feels skimped over and
nothing dominates in an overbearing way. Also, the editor has taken the
opportunity to tidy up some of the text of the original so the entries
feel more ‘full’ where they might have been mere notes and more even in
tone which is definitely an advantage over the varied voices of the
original authors. The sector itself has an entry of course of just over
a page, as well as a colour-on-white sector map at the start of the PDF
and a white on black overview of the subsector names, planet locations
and x-boat routes. Each subsector has a full write up along with a
nearly paged sized colour-on-white map produced from travellermap.com. A
loss from the originals, however, is a key to the information on the
maps which could have been rectified, if not on every map, with one
master key in the preliminary pages. The maps are the only colour in the
whole volume except for the red lettering of the large capitals placed
at the start of each letter of the alphabet.

Another swathe of entries cover the sentient beings of the sector.
For some reason these have their headings in ALL CAPS which does make
them stand out a little but seems an odd variation and is slightly
confusing mixed in with acronym entries such as INDISS and SIDDIS. The
race entries are some of the longest: a quick glance suggests that the
S’mrii have the longest entry at four pages long. But this length is
useful for referees who want mini-alien books which could easily be
adapted for use outside of Dagudashaag if desired although there are no
character generation style rules for any of them. As well as alien
races, there are entries for various empires and polities within the
sector and on five occasions these include short timelines.2

Also liberally spread through the volume are major players in the
sector from Aliskhander VIIII [sic] to az-Rabayr Mehrban Zabeh. These
entries bring a lot of life to the book which might otherwise feel a
little dry. Having said that, even if you’re not adventuring in
Dagudashaag, it is nigh on impossible to open this at any page and not
be inspired in some way to think of a piece of colour, an adventure
seed, or even a full blown scenario. There is so much here of interest
and of use to players and referees alike. There are languages and short
entries of spacer slang; there are animals, plants and drugs; there are
technology entries, companies and even legends. The scope of this is
indeed impressive. Readers may want to refer, in some cases, to the
original articles or Library Data entries however, as there are
significant variations. As well as editing the text for stylistic
purposes, and in at least one case, the Legends and Lore of Dagudashaag
Sector for example, splitting a longer article into constituent entries,
much text has been lost. Sometimes this is mere detail, sometimes it
might be more significant.

A nice touch is the intrusions of a hacker, CyJac, which could have
been overdone and spoilt the effect but in fact are a useful way the
editor can, often wryly, provide commentary on any particular entry.
Again, this adds some life to otherwise po-faced entries. Naturally
CyJac has inserted an entry on themselves. On the other hand, one
omission which is to be slightly regretted is the lack of ‘which see’ or
q.v. references where something mentioned in the text actually has its
own entry which might be useful to refer to. Examples include Benjamin
Ra’Scania, Broadleaf, Colect and Shampka which are all mentioned in
various places but unless you happen to think of it, you wouldn’t know
that they also have their own entries which give further information.
Some such q.v. references have actually been removed from the original
texts.

The Encyclopaedia Dagudashaag is
illustrated throughout with pictures and logoes from the original
Signal-GK. Many of these are really
excellent and deserve a second, wider audience. The likes of Tim
Osbourne, Nik Piper, Duncan Law-Green and Paul Sanders to name a few,
have produced work that feels very Traveller
and really helps both players and referees visualize an alien being or
scene. Some of the artwork is a little more so-so but helps break up the
pages and was still worth including. Just occasionally some pictures
have lost some clarity from the original
Signal-GK versions – a shame but perhaps inevitable given the
passage of time and magnitude of the job. On at least one occasion,
illustrations have been changed – for example, the Jala’lak don’t look
quite the same as the original, but in this case I think it brings the
description and the pictured example more into line with each other. The
one suggestion I might have made would have been to colourize the front
cover. All of the interior illustrations are black and white or
greyscale and none the worse for that. However, the cover – a
wonderfully busy collection of buildings, people, aliens and emotion
that somehow does justice to the encyclopaedic nature of the work –
cries out for the vigour and attraction of a full colour treatment. I’m
tempted to set my daughter to it with a box of pencils.

A couple of details I’ve not mentioned: the text is unjustified
throughout which isn’t critical but arguably detracts from the
impression the whole volume gives of being a seminal work of Third
Imperium publishing – nicely treated in not one but two imprint pages.
One is the real one and the other an ‘in-universe’ page revealing it’s
the 127th edition dated to 1114, edited by one Tobias Lei Han and
published by Sherver Press of Ushra. This page also warns of the CyJac
’13 intrusion. It’s also worth noting that apostrophes are ignored for
alphabetical order but accented characters may be at the end of the
alphabet Swedish style, or ignored.

I cannot praise this book enough. As a resource for Dagudashaag
sector it is of course now the go to work. As a resource for any sector,
it is without parallel in Traveller
publishing. Even if you’re not interested in this particular sector, as
a resource for people and places, religion and races, and a host of
other bits and bobs, you can’t help but take inspiration from entry
after entry after entry. Like any encyclopaedia it is not really
something to sit down and read in large chunks but as a reference book
or as something to dip into and travel through and to simply savour and
enjoy, it’s an absolute delight. Given its nature it’s not the simplest
way of getting the kind of overview we’re more used to but some
Britannica-style study guides could
ameliorate that somewhat. The only way this volume could be bettered
would be for a physical book but I understand print on demand will not
be offered. Still, a trip to the local copyshop should produce a
handsome volume for the shelves. If going this route, however, you might
want to consider an A3 version of the sector map folded in as an endleaf.
The one page version is fine in PDF form where it can be enlarged and
read quite easily but it is rather small to give anything other than
overview when printed on A4 or US Letter.

All this and I haven’t even mentioned the best part. The Dagudashaag
Development Team as they style themselves are offering this labour of
love and tour de force absolutely free. You
can pick up a copy at http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Encyclopaedia_Dagudashaag
and you’d be remiss not to.

1. Duncan Law-Green and Leighton Piper are also credited
as editors of the original Signal-GK.

2. For the Aakri Empire, Guukian Federation, Kimaled
Collective, The Medurma Pact and the Ustran Empire.